Unconquerable conquers first ever SupComTalk 6-way FFA
The first ever Supreme Commander Talk 6-way free-for-all (see announcement here) just finished up. Grokmoo, Maelos, Unconquerable, Jotto, Kaedes, and I competed on Open Palms. The combat was fast and furious, with players dropping off left and right. Unconquerable managed to get his economy chugging along a lot more quickly than the other players, and for some reason nobody really attacked him. I wonder why. It’s like, by virtue of being a well-known great player, you’re almost guaranteed to win because nobody has the cojones to attack you.
The players seemed to pair up at the beginning. Unconquerable fought with Maelos, ultimately destroying his base with tech 3 artillery. Maelos ran with his commander into my secondary base (behind my starting crescent), and exploding spectacularly. Meanwhile, Kaedes fought with Jotto, and Jotto was eventually overrun with tech 1 bots and tech 2 mobile missile launchers. Meanwhile, Grokmoo and I were fighting, but it was mostly at a stalemate. After Kaedes finished off Jotto, he took over his crescent base and started pumping out tech 3 siege bots, which he used to quickly overwhelm Grokmoo from the rear (Grokmoo had just used up most of his units attacking me and failing).
So then it was just down to Unconquerable, Kaedes, and me. By this point Unconquerable had several quantum reactors, a quantum gateway, and he was pumping out support commanders to use as ground assault units. I haven’t yet seen the SCU strategy used to this extreme, but it was very effective. He quickly overwhelmed Kaedes, who had to run his commander off, and ironically, his commander ended up turning into a mushroom cloud when it ran into a tech 1 horde at Unconquerable’s tertiary base behind the northwest crescent. So then it was down to just Unconquerable and me. My crescent base was hopelessly overrun by siege bots and support commanders, and then my commander was mushroomed by four strategic bombers.
So Unconquerable takes the first ever title of Supreme Commander Talk Top Player, which he gets to keep until whenever the next FFA is (unless he wins that one too). He won by simply out-teching the other players and then destroying them in large, macro onslaughts. No player I’ve seen has ever been able to out-economize Unconquerable in a situation where neither player is harassed.
So that ends the first SupComTalk 6-way FFA. Keep your eyes pealed; we’ll be doing another one of these soon enough!
April 6th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
I played well right up to when I was being pounded by artillery. I wasn’t quite sure what was hitting me, but I knew it wouldn’t have been long for him to run me over. I wish I had attacked him sooner, I gave him far too much time to set up his firebase.
I learned two things from this match pretty quickly. First is to maintain a sphere of intelligence. The little land scouts are mighty handy at doing this. Most opponents will amass their forces before attacking you, so if you see a group forming you are given a valuable heads up before their arrival. I wish I had done more of this, for I would have know how much weaker Unconquerable actually was (he was lightly defended on a side and was rapidly teching up).
Secondly, scout before you take an action. It takes less than 20 seconds to make an air scout or a land scout. I should have paid more attention to my commander when I was fleeing. If I had rememberd Cyde’s previous FFA I would have known he loves those back corners. I may have even egged him on earlier in the week, to my demise…
And thirdly, though not that important, I should have held steady at my base. His forces, other than the t3 arty, were nothing to be afraid of. I had a bit in reserve that I blindly suicided agaist his firebase. If I had been patient and waited, or built some of my own arty in my t3 land factory, I would have easily held him off for a few more minutes. By that time Kaedes was harrassing Unconq and I would have been more or less saved from his artillery creep.
I enjoyed the game and hope we play again some time soon. I just played another FFA to test some ideas about the Cybran shielding and defense against level three armies. It was successful for a wave, but this game seems to be pretty set on advancing your ground before turtling up, so thats something I will have to take into consideration next time.
P.S. On second thought, I should give Unconquerable more credit. It just felt like I could have done more. I believe most people know he is the king because of his adaptability. So it’s very likely he would have countered me, but I still think that I could have given him a better fight if I hadn’t run.
April 6th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
And because it seems I can’t stop thinking of comments, here goes round two (or three if you were watching).
I suppose I ran for just one more additional reason. As I was being bombarded by Unconquerable’s tier three mobile artillery (lets call them the beatdown), I was trying to figure out his capabilities. I believe I was going to place my own tier two stationary artillery, but I noticed that its range far surpassed his firebase, and main base as well. This added a little confusion, but also fear. Was he waiting on me to launch a barrage to kill me commander? I wasn’t ready to leave the battlefield just yet! And so I pondered. The ammunition sound and damage appeared to be tier three, but again I doubted that he had a tier three weapon and was not firing directly at my commander (whether placed or mobile). Only after looking at the replay did I notice his use of the “beatdown” and their modest range. As I said before, I might have given him a better fight if I was more knowledgable about his forces. He had several t2 tanks, but more importantly three Cerebus emplacements within his firebase. Intelligence, intelligence, intelligence. If I had known what to defend, where I could stage a new base, or simply where to run and hide I would have had a longer stay before my ACU bit the dust…err nuclear explosion.
Great game though, I am anxious to improve.
April 7th, 2007 at 2:39 am
How long did this game last? My computer isn’t quick enough to even manage +2 speed in heavy battles, so I’d like to know how much time I need to reserve to watch. :)
April 7th, 2007 at 11:45 am
It takes 36 minutes, and its very fast-paced match.